Missing
by Kya - The Mystical Tigress
Summary: It’s Christmas and the cyborgs are having a grand time at Kazumi’s house. But during a playful fight two of them disappear into thin air! 009.003 friendship EDITED! Previously titled Fun and a Disappearance.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I DON'T OWN CYBORG 009!

This is my first fan fic but revised, so please be nice… Also before I made this story I didn't know that the cyborgs had communicators in their heads, so just work with me here.

* * *

**_Missing_ **

Ivan Whisky - 001  
Jet Link- 002  
Françoise Arnoul- 003  
Albert Heinrich- 004  
Geronimo, Jr. - 005  
Chang Changku- 006  
GB (Great Britain) - 007  
Pyunma - 008  
Joe Shimamura - 009

* * *

"Hi."- talking 

'Hi.'- thinking

"_Hi."_ - telepathic talk

* * *

It was Christmas Eve, and the cyborg team was on a break from fighting. After having dinner, almost everyone at the Kazumi household was busy out in the city doing last minute shopping or wrapping gifts. Joe was walking through the halls of the house about to go for a walk on the beach to relax for a little bit. As he walked by Jet's room he heard muffled snickering and chuckling.

'I wonder what's so funny,' he thought. He listened a few more minutes and caught a few words of what was going on. When he stopped listening, he backed away, turned around, and walked back down the hall to his room.

'So that's what they've been up to,' looking thoughtful. 'Oh well. What goes around comes around," he thought grinning. He disappeared into his room thinking.

* * *

The next morning, Christmas, everyone had a happy breakfast and lunch, chatting about whatever and guessing what they were going to get. Joe noticed that one of the others could barely keep a wicked type of grin off their face at lunch. Now it was time to open their presents.

They all went into the "family room" and seated themselves on the floor, except for Gilmore who was holding Ivan and Kazumi who sat in chairs. They sat in a C shape around the Christmas tree which was in a corner of the room. Soft Christmas music was playing in the background.

Joe and Geronimo were at the ends closest to the tree, so they started to pass a few of the presents down the line calling the name that was written on the package. Everyone put his or her gifts in front them. After about half of the gifts were handed out, they stopped and started opening them a few people at a time telling whom they were from. Pyunma and Chang were first; they each found that one of their gifts had no name of which it was from. With curiosity on their faces, they opened them and let out a surprised yelp and threw the packages into the air! After a few seconds, everyone else burst out laughing. A moment later, the two that got the prank gifts joined in. They continued opening the gifts they had in front of them.

When Joe and Geronimo passed out the rest of the gifts Françoise, Geronimo, and Gilmore had also gotten prank gifts. When all the gifts were opened Kazumi, Joe, and Albert had also gotten prank gifts.

Joe looked back at the floor under the tree. 'Right where I left them,' he thought, smothering a grin. Then announced, "Hey, there's two more." He reached out and grabbed the two hidden gifts and looking at the names. "They're for 002 and 007," and passed them down the line.

"How in the world did you miss them," an annoyed Jet exclaimed/asked.

Joe just shrugged his shoulders and said, "They were out of view." Jet just mumbled in response and GB and he open up their gifts. A bunch of items popped and flew out of the boxes and they gave a **very** surprised yelp and fell over backwards! Man, were they wide eyed! Everyone else, use to the prank gifts, practically fell over laughing. When Jet and GB got over their shock, with Jet extremely mad, they looked into the now empty boxes and saw a note. They pulled them out and read them. They said:

_I caught you giggling and chucking in one of your rooms talking about the prank gifts. So I thought that I would return the favor from all of us and give you and your partner a prank gift as well. Hope you enjoyed it.  
–009_

When they looked up with Jet madder than ever they saw that Joe almost out of the room!

Seeing this, Jet grabbed GB and ran after him yelling, "Why I oughta-! Get back here!"

Everyone quickly figured it out and Chang asked, "Shouldn't we go stop them?"

"Nah," Albert answered, "I'd rather see what they're up to. Not necessarily stop them." Quietly agreeing they went towards the door with Kazumi and Gilmore with Ivan last in line.

**During that time…**

Jet, mostly towing GB, burst out the front door and looked around but not seeing anything, yelled "I know your out here 009, now, show yours-!" Before he had a chance to finish a snowball hit each of them on the head. They looked in the direction from which they came and saw Joe running away towards the woods. They chased after him. Actually Jet chased after him while GB was practically being dragged along.

* * *

When Albert and the others got outside, they saw a **huge** snowball fight going on between Joe and Jet with GB. They watched for a few minutes when suddenly several snowballs were flung in their direction hitting Françoise, Albert, and Chang! They all decided to join in as well; except Gilmore, Ivan, and Kazumi who left quickly before they could get hit.

Françoise joined up with Joe and GB stayed with Jet while everyone else went solo. They all played snowball fight until it started getting dark, which was about an hour later, when Geronimo and Albert, covered with melting ice and snow, decided to go in. Chang went with them to start making dinner. The others just continued their snowball fight without really noticing the others leave.

Joe saw that Françoise was having a great time, screaming and laughing with joy and delight. He turned his attention back to Jet who was still trying to get at him from over a snow drift and saw a snowball flying right towards Françoise and for once she wasn't even noticing it! Without much thought he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him and successfully out of the away of the oncoming snowball. But right behind him without his knowing was a large hole which lead into a tunnel next to a giant bolder! After they fell into the tunnel the bolder from nearby covered the tunnel entrance above them…


	2. Chapter 2

They fell and continued falling. Françoise was so surprised and scared that she couldn't even make a sound! Time seemed to slow down, and it wasn't because of an accelerator. Joe held her close to him to protect her, keeping himself between Françoise, the ground, which was far away, and the walls of the tunnel. Time slowly went back to normal. When they finally did hit the bottom after the bumpy ride down, Joe was still on the bottom, and they were thrown apart from each other…

_**Topside…**_

Jet, GB, and Pyunma decided to call it quits and headed inside figuring that the others had already gone in without them knowing. Jet was arguing about who had won. When they got inside, they found that the others had eaten, cleaned up the family room, put their gifts in all their rooms, and gone to bed. So they decided to hit the hay as well. Not knowing that two weren't really in their rooms…

* * *

****

Françoise was the first to stir and sit up but she couldn't remember how she got to were she was. She also couldn't see a thing! Furthermore, except for the sound of flowing water it was dead silent. Then she suddenly remembered the fall. Panic and fear gripped her but see pushed it away. Now was not the time.

Then she called out a little unsteadily, "009?" But no answer. "009?" she called out a little louder and steadier. There was still no reply. So she tried her enhanced hearing to locate him. About ten to twelve meters away she heard slow, even breathing. Not trusting the ground, she crawled towards the breathing. When she got there, she found Joe half in and out of the water which she had heard and his head out of the river facing her. When he didn't awake up after gently shaking him she knew that he was going to be out for, hopefully, just a little while. Pulling and straining, she was able to drag him clear of the underground stream. She checked him over to see if he had any wounds, only to find rips and tares in his clothing and a few bruises. She sighed with relief knowing that he was going to be fine but still hoped that he would wake up soon. This place was creepy.

Fifteen minuets later, Joe stirred and opened his eyes. Startled by not being able to see anything, he bulleted into a sitting position. Françoise, who had been dozing with her back to a large stone nearby, called out startled, "009? …Are you alright?"

Looking in her direction, he answered, "003? Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

"I'm okay." After a couple minutes of discussion, they felt their way around the large cavern. Then a startled yelp and splash broke the near silence.

"009?" After a few seconds Joe came back to the surface.

"Watch your step over here or you might go down with a splash," he said in a sarcastic tone, making Françoise giggle. It sounded good to hear in this creepy place. They continued on with their search being careful to not get out of hearing range from each other. About an hour later, they returned to their "meeting" spot and concluded that they had found nothing very useful. So they determined that it was best to get some sleep and try again the next day.

Next morning they woke up about the same time as each other. Getting up they felt their way to the wall away from the underground river without crossing it. "I'll go first incase there's another drop off," Joe declared. Ok was her response. They walked single file going downstream at a slow walk with one of each of their hands sliding on the wall and with Françoise's other hand on Joe's shoulder so that they wouldn't get separated.

**_At the house…_ **

"Albert, would you please go and wake the ones still in bed? Breakfast is almost ready," Chang asked.

"Sure," he replied and left to go do what he was asked. When he came back down Jet and Pyunma had beaten him down after he had wakened them.

Seeing his expression, GB asked, "What's with the frown, my friend?"

"009 and 003 weren't in their rooms," he said with a hint of curiosity and concern in his voice. Hearing this, everyone else also began to wonder where they were.

"Perhaps they went out for a walk and have yet to return," Gilmore suggested. They all agreed that it was a possibility so they just continued to eat and silently worried about where the other two were and if everything was alright. Two hours had passed since breakfast finished and 009 and 003 still haven't returned. They all began to grow very worried.

"They must have run into trouble."

"But we don't know were they could possibly be or even if they're together."

"Maybe they were captured."

"I doubt it. Ivan would have noticed."

"He's asleep."

"He still would've noticed."

"Perhaps we should look around first before we assume too much of anything. We should split up and search the area. 002 search from the skies. 008 check the _Dolphin _and search from the sea, just incase. 006, 007 check along the shoreline. 005 and I will search the woods. Dr. Gilmore and Dr. Kazumi, please stay here incase they come back. Keep in contact and come back here in two hours," Albert ordered.

"Who died and made you king," Jet demanded in an angered way but left to do his job anyway. Albert sent him a glare as he left. When the two hours ended, they all returned to the house. None of them had found anything useful.

"Let's try a new strategy. When and where were they last seen," Gilmore asked.

"I saw them last night about a half hour before 008, 007, and I came in. We were out in the woods still having our snowball fight. One minute they were there the next they were gone. I thought they just moved to a new spot while I was distracted but I didn't see them again so I just thought that they went into the house," Jet answered.

"Can you show us the place?"

"Sure." Jet led the way and the others followed.

When they got to the area, Jet stopped to figure out their exact spot. 'Let's see… I was behind this drift over here and they were over in that direction behind that tree… or what used to be a tree,' he thought. He walked to the fallen tree and said, "This is where they were when I last saw them. I was over there, behind that snow drift. I threw a snowball but I had to look away before it got there because 008 here tried to bomb me." They searched in and around that area. They didn't find anything but a mess of tracks but it was impossible to tell whose was whose. They were all over the place! When they were just about to head back to the house, Geronimo got a weird look on his face and went behind the fallen tree.

"What is it, 005," Albert asked.

"I have been here many times. This bolder is not where it has always been," was the response. He looked at the bolder for a moment then picked it up.

"Why, there's a hole there," Chang exclaimed.

"I think we should check this out," Albert said seriously.

* * *

****

Joe and Françoise had been walking in the pitch black for almost four hours now (they had gotten up as the others finished breakfast), when suddenly Joe fell out of Françoise's grasp and a splash quickly followed. Apparently he had fallen over a drop-off into water, again. When he got back out they searched the area to see if they could go around. Unfortunately, there was no way around so Joe stated, "I'll swim around and see if there's land on the other side. Don't go anywhere." He swam around for about half an hour. When he come back he said, "There's land about a ten minute swim away."

"Ten minute swim for you or for me," she asked.

"Ah...for me…ok, get on my back and I'll take you across."

She nodded and put her arms around his neck and he began swimming. He put his head down, breathing water, when they went through a low tunnel so she wouldn't bump her head. When they reached the other side, they continued walking.

* * *

****

"008 and I will go down. The rest of you stay here," Albert said. Jet had been sent back to the house to retrieve ropes and flashlights. With a rope tied to a nearby tree that looked sturdy enough they began their decent with Albert going down first.

About a third of the way down Albert found a strip of cloth. "Hey guys. I believe they did fall down here. There's a piece of 009's shirt stuck on the wall." They continued down seeing a few more pieces of cloth along the way until they touched bottom.

"Whoa," Pyunma said with awe when he joined Albert at the bottom.

"Uh-huh. And look where you're standing. Must likely 009's doing."

Pyunma looked down and saw a large, almost human-shaped indent in the ground. "You're right. He was probably knocked out for a little while too."

Albert nodded and they began to look around.

Half an hour later their communicators crackled to life. "006 to 004. How's it going down there?"

"Roger 006, besides a few other scraps of clothing on the way down and a human-shaped indentation in the rock ground where we landed there's no other sign of them, but could you see if you can figure out where this tunnel exit ends up?" Albert answered.

"Sure. 006 out."

"So where do you think they went?" Pyunma asked after a moment.

"Well… to them it was pitch back so they probably didn't see or even know about those side tunnels across the underground river, so my best bet is that they followed the water flow."

"Makes since, if the water can get out so could they," he agreed while making up a plan.

Ten minutes later their communicators came back to life, "006 to 004. We found out were the main tunnel might come out."

"Roger. Where?" 006 gave him the coordinates. "But isn't that area underwater," Albert asked when he heard the place.

"Unfortunately, yes, but that's our best guess and besides there's probably more than one passageway and more ways to get out down there."

'Or to get lost even more,' he thought and said, "Which there is. Alright, 004 out."

They thought for a moment then Pyunma suggested, "Perhaps I should go scan that area and see if the cave's exit is actually there. If it is, I'll see where they'll have to dive."

"OK, but don't get lost yourself. We don't need to look for you too." With that said, they headed back up to the surface.

**_With Joe and Françoise…_**

"What is it, 003?" Françoise had suddenly stopped.

"I thought I heard something back the way we came." They listened for a few moments. "I guess I was wrong." They continued on silently until Joe broke the silence.

"003? I've been doing a little thinking. Do you think you could find your way back by yourself?"

She thought for a moment then said, "Depends if that waterway we swam had other routes. Why?"

"No, there was only one way. And I asked incase we got separated somehow. If we do, I want you to go back to where we landed. It shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Oh. Well, hopefully that won't happen." The slow and silent walking continued on.

_**With Albert…**_

'Man this tunnel is loooonnnggg…,' Albert complained in his head. 'I feel bad for 009 and 003. They're walking in this place blind! Too bad they had a head start; it might take a while to catch up with them. We should probably explore this place further when this is over for future use.' Albert had been walking quickly, since he could see, for about two and half-hours and was close to the water dive.

* * *

****

"How you doing, 003?" Joe asked after a while. They had gone from a slow walk to an even slower, more cautious crawl because they had happened across a portion of the cavern with sharp, jagged rocks coming out of the ground.

"Alright." They walked for about twenty more minutes when suddenly Joe stepped on air and fell into a wide, deep fracture.

"009!" Françoise stood listening for a moment and heard a faint slash so she tried again, "009!" Nothing but an echo. She stood there thinking about what to do. Then she remembered Joe's words…

**Flashback…**

"If we get separated, I want you to go back to the place where we fell. It shouldn't be too hard to find. The others are most likely looking for us by now. Use your abilities, if you hear anyone; yell as loud as you can. They'll eventually figure it out. If I'm not back to the house or where we fell within twenty-four hours, then you can come looking for me, OK?"

**End Flashback… **

Now remembering what to do, she started heading back a little bit faster since the ground she's walking on was familiar.


	3. Chapter 3

Joe felt the sensation of falling as the air whipped past his ears. He wasn't too scared so he didn't yell; he was just startled. He had fallen many times before and a few had been in similar to what was happening now. Then all of a sudden, he hit bottom, hard; so hard that he lost consciousness for a couple of minutes. When he came around he first realized that it was somewhat chilly and that there was a slight pressure all around him. Then it hit him. He was underwater! He began swimming around, trying to figure out which way was up. As he finally got to the surface, he began breathing natural air again. He called for Françoise but his voice was too weak for her to hear. He listened to the waves for a moment and guessed were land might be. When he was nearly there he felt sand underneath him so he continued walking the rest of the way. He took his shirt off as he reached shore knowing that it would just make him colder and get in his way. He sat on the sand to rest. After a while, he got up and began to search the new area above the water. He found a waterfall but no other passageway except for the way he came. Therefore he dove back into the underground lake. After some time, he found only one exit and got back out to warm up. "Man, that water's cold! I bet a human would freeze in about seven minutes if they fell into it," he mused out load. He was drowsy, not from the cold, so he decided to take a small nap.

* * *

****

Françoise had been walking for about an hour when she suddenly stopped. She thought she heard something. Then she heard it again. It was a voice! "Hello! Who's there!" she called out loudly then stood quietly to listened.

After a few seconds Albert, she thought, called back. "…9? 003? Is that you!"

"Yes!"

"Stay there! I'll come to you!"

* * *

****

Albert had been walking for about six hours total. He was waiting for 006 to call him again since he checked up on him every forty-five minutes. He had passed the waterway about three hours ago. 'I'm glad my equipment is waterproof,' he had thought. Then his communicator was brought to life.

"006 to 004. Any sign of them?"

"Besides a strip of recent clothing in a water channel, no, I haven't."

"Ok. Well, 008's still out searching the ocean, just to let you know."

Albert didn't answer. From a far off he thought he heard someone say, "…lo! Who's there!"

"004?" asked Chang.

"I think I hear someone. Hang on," he said into the radio then called out, "009? 003? Is that you!"

After a second he heard them say back, "Yes!"

Glad that they were found he told them, "Stay there! I'll come to you!" And he started running forward. "006. Yes it's them. I'll be in at their location in a few minutes."

"Roger. Good work, 004. Tell us when you get there." On the other end, Albert could here a couple shouts of joy.

* * *

****

As Françoise stood there, she could see a light bobbing towards her and hear running feet coming her way. As they rounded the corner she saw Albert. "004! It's good to see you!" she exclaimed.

"Good to see you too," he replied with a smile while his eyes checked to see her condition. All he saw was that she had slightly tousled hair, was a little grubby, had a few rips in her clothing, and a couple of small scrapes that had barely bled. But when it registered that she was alone, his smile turned into a frown. When Françoise saw his expression change, her smile turned sad and looked at her shoes.

"Where's 009?" he asked

"He fell down a deep crevice. He fell so far that I could hardly hear the splash that followed. He had told me earlier that if we got separated for me to head back."

"How long ago was this?"

"About an hour ago."

"Alright, let me tell the others," he said to her, then turned to his radio. "004 to 006. You still there?"

"Yes, we're here."

"It was 003 but she's alone. 009 fell down a crevice an hour ago. It sounds like he hit water and it's too far down to use the rope that I have and he's probably moved on by now. You copy all that."

"Roger. We got it all and we agree that you should come back. 005's at the entrance now, he can pull you guys up."

"Alright. We'll be at 005's location in a few hours. 004 out."

Turning to Françoise he said, "Well, we should get going. It's a good five and a half hours walk back at least."

"Ok. But let's do so quickly. I can go faster now that I can see."

All he did was nod in response.

_**The ocean… **_

Pyunma had almost finished his search and had found nothing so far when he spotted a possible opening. He went to check it out. 'Man, this water is colder than what I'm use to. And it's most likely even colder inside. I'm going to have to go warm up and eat. I'll check this out later,' and headed back up.

* * *

****

When Joe woke up from his nap he got up, stretched, and then waded into the water. He began swimming cautiously arms out in front of him and slightly to the side so he wouldn't hit anything. He swam this way for about three hours until he was able to faintly see. 'I must be getting close to the exit' he thought. After a moment, he wrapped his arms around himself. He was freezing! And to make it worse, his vision was beginning to get blurry. He was beginning to shake hard now and was unknowingly beginning to sink! That's when a fuzzy, moving figure came into view. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, his eyes fell shut…

* * *

****

Pyunma had just jumped in after his break and was heading for the cave. 'I think it got colder.' He complained. Forty minutes into his search of the cavern he made out a person swimming his way. Since the cavern looked to long for a human to swim, he decided that it had to be Joe. So he began swimming towards him. When he got somewhat closer he saw that Joe was without his shirt, trembling hard, and was going so slow that he was slightly sinking! Seeing this he went faster. When he was about nine meters away, he saw Joe stop swimming, his eyes flicker shut, and began sinking. Afraid for his friend and leader, he went to top speed, grabbed him, and swam for the opening. "002! Come in 002!" he said urgently into his waterproof headset. Jet had brought him out to the shore.

"Ouch! Sheesh! I can hear you, 008. What's wrong?" Jet answered and asked back.

"It's 009! I found him but before I was able to get to him he fell unconscious! I believe he passed out from being in the cold for to long!"

"Get back to shore. I'll fly him back to the house."

* * *

****

When Françoise heard what was going on, she began going faster. Understandingly, Albert followed suit. "I'm sure he'll be fine, 003," he said to comfort her. She just kept going.

* * *

****

As soon as Pyunma got to shore, Jet put a blanket around Joe. "Go, I'll follow," Pyunma said.

Jet took off with Joe on his back. Flying fast, he got to the house in no time. "Dr. Gilmore! Dr. Gilmore!" Jet called as he got close. Gilmore came hurrying out as Jet landed next to the porch.

When he saw Joe limp on his back he exclaimed, "Oh my! What happened? Bring him inside." Jet explained how Pyunma found him as they went inside. While he was explaining, Joe stirred but didn't wake on his back. Jet stopped speaking and glanced at him, then continued.

"Well it just sounds as if he fell unconscious from the cold. We'll just warm him up by the fireplace," Gilmore said when Jet finished. They had just placed Joe on the couch, put another blanket on him, and got the fire started when Pyunma burst in puffing.

"He'll be fine, 008. No reason to worry," Gilmore said before he was even asked.

Hearing this Pyunma gave a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. "You hear that, 003? He'll be just fine. You can stop worrying now," he said into his headset to the others. After listening for a moment, then he gave a small laugh and said, "Whatever you say. 008 out," and he took off his head set.

Seeing Gilmore's shocked and questioning glance, Jet said, "004 found 003 an hour after they were separated."

After hearing this, Gilmore's face changed to a happy smile. "I see. I guess 007 just forgot to tell me. Oh well…"

"Ok. I just wanted to make sure that 009 was going to be alright. Now that I do, I'm going to get this sea salt off me," Pyunma announced handing Jet his headset and walk toward the stairs to take a shower.

"I'll go and check on the others and give back our communicators. Are you going to be alright, Professor?" Jet asked.

"I'll be fine, 002. Go ahead," he replied. When he had left, Gilmore glanced over at Joe and saw that he was stirring. He quickly went to his side. After a few seconds Joe opened his eyes.

"You're at the house. How are you feeling, 009?" Gilmore said when a confused look came over his eyes.

Giving a small sigh, Joe answered, "Other than being cold, I'm fine. Have you heard anything about 003?"

"Yes I have. 004 found her an hour after you two got separated from what I've heard."

"Good," Joe said with a bigger sigh mixed in.

"Now, you just get some rest. I'll tell the others to keep it down when they get back."

Joe nodded in replied as he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

"Good night, 009. Good to have you back," Gilmore whispered as he went to get a book and sit on the porch to make sure the others wouldn't march in and wake him up.

A little while later Pyunma came out with clean clothes on. "Have a nice shower, 008?" Gilmore asked.

"Uh-huh. 009 looks to be doing fine, just to let you know," Pyunma said as he sat down nearby to watch the clouds.

"Thank you. Just remember to keep it down so he can rest."

"No problem. It's just 006 and 007 I'd worry about when they come to make dinner," Pyunma said with an amused grin.

"Yes, those two never give it a rest," Gilmore said with a sigh and shaking his head.

"Speaking of them, here they come. Arguing, as usual," Pyunma announced while rolling his eyes. When they got close enough, Gilmore and Pyunma sent them a stern look. They saw them and shut their mouths.

"Try to keep it quite while you make dinner tonight. 009 is resting on the couch. He needs it. Understood?" Gilmore said firmly as the two reached the porch.

"No problem Doc.," GB said as they went inside.

"008? Can you go and sit at the table and read a book, perhaps, to make sure they don't make too much of a ruckus?" Gilmore asked after the door shut.

"Gladly. I don't feel like hearing arguing right at the moment anyways," he replied and left.

After a while, Kazumi came out and sat next to him. "I see they found 009. And it's very quite tonight. How about a game?" he asked

"Sure." And they set out the game on the table between them and turned their chairs so they faced each other. "I have 008 making sure they don't fight so 009 can rest," Gilmore said when they had finished setting up.

"That's good. Do you know how it happened," Kazumi asked as they started playing.

"Kind of. I don't know many details. We'll just have to wait for them to explain at dinner or breakfast." When they were in the middle of their sixth game, they saw the others coming.

"Ah. Hear they come, my friend," Kazumi announced.

As they come closer, Gilmore got up and greeted them. "Good to see you, my dear," he said to Françoise, and to all of them said, "009's fine and sleeping on the couch so I want you keep it down tonight. 006 and 007 seem to be doing a good job so I expect you to as well. Yes you can check on him, 003. Then I suggest that you get some sleep too. If you want to get something to eat, that's fine." When they walked into the house the others greeted Françoise. When she was able to escape, she went to check on Joe. She smiled when she saw him. He had turned so that he was on his side with his back to the fire. She went over to his head. He mumbled something in his sleep. She giggled at him and left for bed since she had decided to skip dinner. She was glad to be back home.

The next morning Joe was the first to wake up. He got up yawning and stretching, then put the blankets in the dirty clothes, and went to take a shower. When he got out he waited until Chang came down to fix breakfast and went to help. Chang rejected at first but Joe convinced him that he was fine and then Chang agreed happily. By the time they were finished everyone but 002 was down. Joe went to go get him. After a minute they heard a yell and then a bunch of shouting. All of a sudden Joe came running down trying to hide his laughing behind a hand. The others looked at him confused and while the shouting continued on. Joe was leaning against a wall laughing so hard he was practically doubled over. When he got control of himself he explained to the others, "He wouldn't get up. So I threw some cold water on him. You should have seen his face! It was priceless!" Everyone burst out laughing or giggling. Those that had done the same thing before were laughing the hardest. By the time the laughing had all settled down and Joe had taken his place, Jet came down stairs grumbling loudly. Everyone ate. _"It's good to have you two back,"_ Ivan said. And every thing went back to normal.

As normal could be for them that is.

_**The End**_


End file.
